The European Internet Services Providers Association (EuroISPA) has spoken out against ISP internet filtering, saying that it is an ineffective band-aid that leaves illegal material online and in the wild.
EuroISPA has called on the European Parliament to focus instead on permanently removing the material at its source. Forcing ISPs to block access to sites, they point out, leaves the material available to abusers – as it is they, who are most interested in such material, that are also the most capable of circumventing such filters.
Malcolm Hutty, President of EuroISPA, said in part:
Blocking, as an inefficient measure, should be avoided. Law enforcement authorities’ procedures for rapid communication to Internet Hosting Providers of such illegal material must be reviewed and bottlenecks eliminated.
The good news is that the European Parliament are already skeptical of mandatory filtering. Will national governments be so sensible?
Well, clearly not ours. We’ve been making the point for three years that filtering will do nothing to help children, as it will neither shield them from inappropriate material nor in any way combat the spread of child abuse. If Senator Conroy missed those memos, perhaps he should look to Europe?